In 2011 the Government set the level of the Fourth Carbon Budget covering the years 2023-2027 to adhere with emissions targets set in the 2008 Climate Change Act. When setting the budget, the Government also committed to a Review, for which it also needed to obtain advice from the independent Committee on Climate Change (CCC). To inform this advice, the CCC commissioned a public dialogue, supported by Sciencewise, which ran from August 2013 to April 2014. It explored public views on how the budget could be met and potential impacts this could have for other criteria specified in the Act, such as fuel poverty and competitiveness.

Adopting a citizens’ jury model, this panel met three times in four days. It was delivered by Hopkins Van Mil and evaluated by Icaro Consulting.

The outputs informed the CCC’s advice to government and produced six key recommendations on how to achieve the targets. The findings from this dialogue were broadly consistent with the developing CCC approach and enabled them to continue with greater confidence in their policy.